Equine Obstacle Training Center

To follow your horse’s line of travel without collapsing to one side... Imagine your spine lifting and turning equally like a barbershop pole as you ride half p...ass, shoulder-in or on a circle. Sarah Martin Illustration by Sandy Rabinowitz.

Horses as Mirrors Horses have more mirror neurons than most any other creature. It's what enables them to read human emotion and be able to hold space in the...rapy sessions. It's what keeps them alive in the wild. It's what makes them create the same holdings that their riders do. It's what causes them to behave differently based off of their handlers. In the same breath, it's also what we can do as riders to help them come back to center in a more natural and kind way. I had the opportunity to ride with the great Annie Kursinski a few times and I'll never forget in one particular clinic, I was riding a rather rambunctious young thoroughbred mare. She would randomly blow up and we would go to the circle or lateral movement or any other tool in my tool box that I had to bring her back to me and it was working rather well but then Annie gave me this profound tip - "Just focus on you. Your equitation and your breath. Do nothing but those two things and the mare WILL come back to you." It worked wonders and I've used this on every horse I've ever ridden not really understanding what it worked. I figured it was some kind of cool energy trick and it served me well as people often applauded me on how every horse I got on, I was able to get them to breathe and extend better than any other rider could. Then I became a body worker and I started seeing that the horse and humans kept having the same holdings and that was the oddest phenomenon. I chalked it up to how empathetic they are and with them being masters of grounding energy, they can't help but "pull" from their riders and create the same holdings. And there may be some truth to that, but what it really comes down to, is those mirror neurons. The first time I watched Katherine Calkins give a ground work lesson, she witnessed the person lunging was short striding with her left leg. The horse was responding with short striding in his left hip. She instructed the handler to put an emphases on extending that leg and sure enough, the horse reached under him more and was able to collect and do a true shoulder in when it was asked. She explained the mirror neurons and suddenly it felt like a vault in my brain unlocked and everything finally truly made sense on a visceral level to me. Yesterday, I gave a lesson where the horse was being hot and scaring the rider. I coached the rider to just "ride your circle and focus on counting your breath." Regardless on what the horse does or how she acts, YOU just keep doing your circle and counting your breath. Within just a few minutes, the horse was breathing and walking calmly and then we could begin checking in with her with some light lateral movements. Dropping the stirrups and getting the correct pelvic tilt and leg on so to not accidently counter-spiral the horses spine - And without any real weight on the reins, the horse was naturally mirroring the rider, collecting and giving subtle lateral movements that would normally take quite a bit of force and manipulation. It was beautiful to witness. Confidence grew in the rider and the horse was able to come back to center by playing off of her prey-response and allowing her to feel safe instead of forcing her into trying to contain her energy, which is where most of us get hung up and cause more damage than good. So as a bodyworker, a trainer and an educator, I really hope to get more and more people to truly understand this concept. Samantha Dawn Ebeling

Come join us! The link for the clinic.. https://form.jotform.com/210539452783056... Here is the link for the show.. https://form.jotform.com/203597949984177

As I push my students to understand a particular point, Facebook seems to lead me to another horseman's take on the same subject. It is always helpful to hear the same thing said a different way, to keep filling in blank spots in our understanding. So here ya go.